I am working with a 9-year-old student whose family immigrated from Nigeria. We are using wooden beads as manipulatives to review multiplication and division concepts. Most of the beads are a yellow-white colour of wood, but there is one bead the same size as the others which is a dark burgundy, and one smaller one that is black. I've arranged the beads into an 8 x 6 matrix.
Student gestures at small black bead and burgundy bead: "I don't like these beads."
Me: "why not?"
Student: "They are different from the other ones."
Me: "yes, I have more dark beads at home but I put them all together on a giant strand, so now I have mostly light ones left."
Student: "I don't like them"
Me: "Oh, that's too bad. These ones are my favourite. Can you tell me what eight times six is?"
In my interpretation, this was a symbolic reflection of internalized racism. I hope that maybe what I said helped to some degree. I feel confident discussing issues of race with my white teenage history student. Not only do I feel like we have similar experiences, but I know he is old enough to discuss these topics and it is relevant to the course material. With this student, I feel I am in a position of relative ignorance on the issue, that it might not be an appropriate context to bring up such a discussion, and that he may be too young to engage in such serious discussions with someone outside his family. Nevertheless, I care about this student and I hope he develops the tools he needs for self-love and self-respect. His parents certainly are trying hard to make sure he has the best start, and I hope that I can be a positive influence in his life.
